Lesson from a Transparent Mommy

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Mommy Lesson 578:Dirty Little Secret

I have seen a variety of websites that allow people to post their biggest secrets anonymously. You go, post your secret for all the world to see, and no one knows it’s you! Sometimes it feels good to get something off your chest. The bigger the secret, the better it feels.

But, if no one knows that it’s your secret, then it’s still really a secret. If you’re going to share it then you should own it. It is after all, YOUR secret. So here goes….

Dear World,

I have a confession to make. It may horrify some and embarrass others but I have to get it out…

I don’t clean my bathtub. As a matter of fact, I haven’t cleaned my bathtub in over four years! Phew I feel so much better. Now before you go all Hallie Hygiene on me, you need to understand something. I don’t do it, because I hate it. There is NO comfortable way to clean your bathtub, you can’t crouch, you can’t kneel. If you just bend down to scrub it, by the time you’re done, you back is destroyed. It’s absolutely no fun. The other reason I don’t clean my bathtub? I just don’t want to. You know, it’s really not that bad though! Seriously, look at it…

Cleanest bathtub around

Wow! You say, how is it that my bathtub can be SO clean without me ever cleaning it? Let me tell you my other dirty little secret. I make my kids do it! They’re two and four, absolutely old enough to get into the bathtub and scrub it for me. Why not? I feed them, clothe them, bathe them in their clean bathtub, they should give back to the family. Don’t believe me?

My little helpers

I know what you’re thinking; “how could she have so much hatred for cleaning the bathtub that she makes her itty bitty kiddies do it” and “how can I make my kids do this”. In all honesty, they beg me to let them do it. Because for our family, “cleaning” the bathtub is really just a benefit that I reap for letting my children play with homemade bathtub paints! At least once a week I whip up a batch of bathtub paints and let my kids go wild, smearing it all over the bathtub, creating, playing and enjoying. When they’re finished all it takes is a quick spray with the shower and the bathtub and little Picasso’s are squeaky clean.

I have included for you the two recipes that we like to use. It takes less than 5 minutes to whip up a batch of this colorful fun and roughly that to wash it all down the drain when their done. What if you don’t have children, you ask? Well, just borrow some, they’ll have so much fun they will come back begging to clean your bathtub for you!

Ingredients for bathtub paint

Bathtub Paint 1:
4:1 ratio of tear free baby shampoo to corn starch
(If you use 1 cup of baby shampoo, you would use 1/4 cup corn starch)
Food coloring
Mix shampoo, corn starch and food coloring together
Add water to achieve the consistency you like
Have fun